BLACK LOVE · ORDINARY-LIFE ROMANCE
Meet creative heroines and devoted craftsmen whose friendships grow into love—and follow them as they learn to build a life together.
Discover loving Black couples building extraordinary love in the ordinary moments of village life. Welcome to Willowmere.
Find your next love story ↗A TIMELESS VILLAGE · STORIES BY DAMARA ROSETHE WILLOWMERE BOOKSHELF
Meet the Black couples who make Willowmere home. Begin with a courtship, and stay for the life they build together.
A Meticulous Botanist & a Reliable Woodworker
The Woodsman of Willowmere · Book 1
Lila Brooks has made a quiet life for herself in Willowmere, surrounded by books, gardens, and the freedom to follow her curiosity. She knows she sees the world differently from many of the people around her—and she has no wish to become someone else to earn their approval.
A Meticulous Botanist & a Reliable Woodworker
The Woodsman of Willowmere · Book 2
“Because there are so many things I want to decide with you.”
He kissed her hair. “That sounds like a life I would love.”
Love has given Lila Brooks and Rowan Thatcher a place to begin. Now they must learn what it takes to build a life together.
A Meticulous Botanist & a Reliable Woodworker
The Woodsman of Willowmere · Book 3
“The silence was not empty; it held the warmth of the morning and the astonishing knowledge that they had a whole married life ahead—days of work, meals, books, questions, and all the ordinary discoveries that would belong to them.”
Lila and Rowan Thatcher begin their married life with a cottage full of love, a garden full of promise, and a future they are eager to share.
A Meticulous Botanist & a Reliable Woodworker
The Woodsman of Willowmere · Book 4
“She loved him. She liked the life they had made and wanted to keep adding to it: questions, books, Jovan’s new discoveries, evenings when Rowan looked at her as he was looking now.”
Lila and Rowan Thatcher’s cottage has a new sound: the voice of their baby son, Jovan.
A Creative Baker & a Steadfast Stonemason
The Stonemason series · Book 1
Available now · Book 1 of 4
Gideon Moss has a good trade, strong hands, and every intention of finding a wife. Then Bea Thorm arrives at Willowmere’s Spring Dance in a gloriously unconventional dress, and finding someone to marry suddenly becomes much less interesting than persuading this particular woman to dance with him again.
A Creative Baker & a Steadfast Stonemason
The Stonemason series · Book 2
Forthcoming · Book 2 of 4
When delayed village payments put Gideon’s cottage plans on hold, his confidence falters. As Bea’s plum crowns find their way beyond Willowmere, they discover what each of them truly brings to a shared life.
YOUR FIRST VISIT TO WILLOWMERE
Read the first chapter of The Woodsman’s Beloved free, and meet Lila, Rowan, and the small creature who brings them together.
Read Chapter One ↗
THE AUTHOR BEHIND THE VILLAGE
I write as Damara Rose, a pen name for a neurodivergent Black wife and mother of two whose own family life deeply shapes the stories I want to tell. I love exploring the romance of ordinary life: the love that persists despite grief and loss, struggles with self-esteem, the mental load of motherhood, financial loss, and caregiving through illness and injury. I write imperfect heroines with perfectly large hearts.
My books exist in the whimsical, idyllic village of Willowmere. It has the atmosphere of an earlier age, but it doesn’t neatly map onto any historical period. Rather, it is a village full of lively, fun, and unique craftspeople and citizens who work together to keep life moving without the aid of modern technology and conveniences. Willowmere is where I’d like to live—stripped from the realities of oppression and systemic harm, Willowmere instead centers on the goodness of everyday people.
My neurodivergent heroines map onto autism and ADHD and have experiences such as not being able to sustain eye contact, feeling overwhelmed by certain sounds or textures, the desire to seek out vivid colors…there’s a bit of ME in all of them.
I wrote these books because I could not find any Black romances that fully reminded me of my husband and I and because I personally love finding the romance in ordinary life and not just the “big” events like deciding to date or marriage.
Please feel free to email me at damararoseauthor@gmail.com.
Find your way into Willowmere ↑